University of Cincinnati student Sharmili Sampath (left) and Miami professor Cheri Smyser plant a tree Saturday near the Mill Creek. (John Curley photo) | ZOOM |

        WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP — They showed up in old clothes, boots and gloves, and by late morning, caked in mud, they had gotten a good start on planting more than 1,300 shrubs and trees in the floodplain of the Mill Creek.

        Hemlock, white ash, oak and maple, sycamore and tulip trees. Alder and black chokeberry, buttonbush and elderberry.

        More than two dozen volunteers will work into the week on constructing a 3.2-acre wetland in the floodplain along 1,300 feet of the Mill Creek here in Butler County, a place where the stream runs thin before widening as it winds south through Hamilton County, before emptying 20 miles away into the Ohio River.

Michael Miller, a UC professor, digs a hole for a young tree Saturday. | ZOOM |

        “The wetland will filter stormwater on its way to the Mill Creek,” said Bruce Koehler, a senior planner for OKI Regional Council of Governments, the lead agency on the project.

        “During high water, it also allows Mill Creek water into the wetland, where it can filter out pollutants before it flows back into the creek. Wetlands have been called "nature's kidney.'”

        The project will cost more than $400,000, which includes a federal grant of $226,000 and a local match from Butler County and Schumacher Dugan Construction Inc., the West Chester developer of the site.

        The company allowed the wetland to be constructed and helped contour the wetland area with heavy equipment.

        “I care about the Mill Creek,” said Harry Stone of Evendale, one of the volunteers, which included students of Michael Miller, a biological sciences professor at theUniversity of Cincinnati, environmentalists, engineers, college faculty and high school students.

ABOUT MILL CREEK

• Length: 28 miles from Butler County south into Hamilton County, where it empties into the Ohio River in Lower Price Hill.     • Considered one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the country due to decades of industrial pollution, landfill leakage, raw sewage and urban runoff.     • The federal government tried to deal with Mill Creek flooding in the early 1970s by straightening the creek by channeling it in a concrete trough. The program was abandoned in 1993 with the project one-third completed due to high cost and criticism from environmentalists.     • The federal government is now considering a 16-mile tunnel more than 300 feet under the Mill Creek that would drain off flood water once it began to exceed the banks of the Mill Creek. Estimated cost: $800 million.

        “This is much more natural than putting in concrete channels (to control flooding).”

        Craig Straub tooled around the site in a Mustang skid loader hauling trees to be planted. An associate director for BHE Environmental Inc. of Springdale, he designed the wetland.

        “The goal is to put back what was here historically,” Mr. Straub said. “We're going back prior to European settlement, like 1760. In four years it will really start looking natural.”

        Trees and shrubs went in over the weekend, and prairie seed mix will be planted this week. Next spring, grasses and sedge will be planted. “It's going to be functional,” said Mr. Miller, who wore boots covering his legs. “It has a dual function — it will cleanse the flood water and reduce the ferocity of the flood crest.”

        This site offered one of the few places along the 28-mile stretch of flood-prone creek where a constructed wetland could be located.

        “The opportunities are slim and few, especially down in Hamilton County,” Mr. Koehler said. “Schumacher Dugan was progressive enough to go along with us. It's great to see what was once a distant glimmer of hope become a physical reality.”

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